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Canucks 3, Flames 2

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) -A rare offensive contribution from Vancouver's fourth line turned out to be the difference Thursday night.

Byron Ritchie and Alex Burrows scored 16 seconds apart as the Canucks built up a 3-0 lead and then withstood a furious Calgary rally in the third period to hang on for a 3-2 victory over the Flames.

"It's a great feeling," said Ritchie, whose first goal of the season comes against his former team of the past two seasons. "We know we have to chip in more often then we have. It was nice to do that tonight and help the team."

Scoreless after the first period, Vancouver took control in the second, scoring three times in less than six minutes.

Ritchie put Vancouver ahead 2-0 at 7:58 on a harmless-looking wrist shot from a bad angle that Miikka Kiprusoff mishandled.

Just 16 seconds later, Calgary defenseman David Hale gave the puck away to Trevor Linden in front of the Flames' net. Linden then knocked it over to Burrows, who backhanded it into the low corner.

"We won two big games on the road in two hard buildings to win in," said Vancouver goalie Roberto Luongo, who made 36 saves.

Anders Eriksson and Owen Nolan scored for Calgary (6-7-3), which has lost four in a row.

"We're beating ourselves," said Eriksson. "We're not playing until we get our backs pushed up against the wall and we have nowhere to go, then we start playing the way we can."

Adding to the Flames' misery was the loss of Daymond Langkow. The center was knocked out of the game halfway through the second period, after he smashed his head into the glass on a check by Vancouver's Matt Cooke, who was penalized for boarding.

Notes: Calgary D Rhett Warrener (throat ailment) missed his third game in a row. ... Jarome Iginla has no goals in his last eight games versus Vancouver. ... Kiprusoff, New York's Henrik Lundqvist and San Jose's Evgeni Nabokov are the only three goalies that have started every one of their team's games.

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